It’s been long time coming – Fraser on Toon move

RYAN Fraser has lifted the lid on why his move to Newcastle United took so long – insisting that he had to put family first after lockdown.

The 26-year-old, whose parents were almost 600 miles away from him during the pandemic, has not played for six months and is behind in terms of minutes on the field compared to his team-mates.

But after joining three weeks into an already condensed pre-season he feels he is still at 90%.

When asked about the delay in him signing for the Magpies, Fraser told The Chronicle: “It’s been a long time coming and it would have got sorted a lot earlier but my mum was down (for the summer) and I had not seen her for eight or nine months.

“Family comes first and I wanted to see her. I also hadn’t seen my dad for about a year and a half.

“So I am buzzing to be here now, every day I can’t take the smile off my face. I’m just looking forward to it and getting started now.

“I have not played since March and it’s a big factor, but at the same time I’ve done everything I can over lockdown to stay fit as much as I can and be ready for the manager now.”

Fraser would love to be part of the starting line-up against West Ham but may need to convince the medical team that he can handle playing an hour of intense Premier League action so long after appearing for his old club AFC Bournemouth.

It was back in early March when Fraser last played in a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool but now it is over to Steve Bruce.

Fraser confessed: “Only he can tell you that.

“I haven’t actually trained with the lads yet.

“The first day I was here, there was nothing and I asked to come in at 5am to get some fitness done and see where I was at.

“I didn’t want to waste a day. “After the signing and medical was done I was like: ‘Get me in now, I don’t want to waste time’.

“I done fitness stuff on Tuesday and now I’m with the team. I don’t know on Saturday, it’s up to the manager and he hasn’t seen me in action since March.

“It’ll be interesting but fitnesswise I will be at 90%. The only way to get to that next level is by playing games.

“I’m ready if called upon, if it’s the bench I’m ready or if it’s a case of sit in the stands and support the lads, so be it. I like to do it.”

Fraser was accused of walking away from Bournemouth’s relegation fight when he opted against signing an extension to his deal.

It meant Fraser never kicked a ball for the Cherries again and watched on helplessly as the team slipped into the Championship.

Fraser said: “There have been bigger things going on than my football career.

“People have died from the virus.

“It didn’t cross my mind about my own situation, it was more about everybody else’s safety.

“Once it started to calm down, it was then back to what was happening football wise.

It’s not been easy.

“The whole situation that ended at Bournemouth wasn’t nice. I never wanted it to end like that after what we went through from start to finish.

“Nobody seen this virus coming. If it hadn’t I would have played every game under my contract.

“Everybody has their opinions, I respect them, good or bad. It was something where I was no longer under contract so I didn’t feel like if I played and I’d got an injury... “I wanted to help the team and I didn’t want them to go down.

“I felt if I played – without sounding big headed or big-time – because I’m very honest, I hope people think that, I’d like to think I’d have kept them up.

“That hurts even more. But I wasn’t under contract so I didn’t actually do anything wrong. I can see why people think that (otherwise).” And Fraser says there are no hard feelings between himself or anybody his old club. He concluded: “I’m still good with the manager Jason Tindall and I had coffee with Eddie Howe a few weeks

I’m ready if called upon, if it’s the bench I’m ready or if it’s a case of sit in the stands and support the lads, so be it. I like to do it Ryan Fraser

at ago.

“We’re very good, there’s no hard feelings or negative stuff there.

“The fans were disappointed and I get that and respect it. I hope they come back up and I wish them all the best.

“I need to put all that to one side now. I don’t regret my decision, just how it ended.

“But it’s gone now, it’s now looking at the next five to 10 years, hopefully here at Newcastle.”